Versunkenes Dorf / Sunken Village

In her Sunken Village, Mariele Neudecker captures the transience of human civilization in a poetic image. Two traditional tiled roofs and the top of a church tower rise just above the surface of Steinfurt Tiggelsee. The viewer is left to imagine of what is hidden beneath the water and what might have caused the village to sink.

With the depiction of an idyll preserved in fragments, the artist draws from the types of ruins that have been part of many gardens and parks since the 16th century. These ruins served to accentuate certain visual elements and create an atmospheric setting, as well as to signify the transience of all human work. An example of this can be found in the Bagno Park in Steinfurt, where the Ruineninsel (Island of Ruins) was built on site in 1805.

Mariele Neudecker’s installation is not only a contemporary reinterpretation of this tradition – it also evokes thoughts about the relationship between reality and imagination.

Further reading:
Catalog: skulptur biennale münsterland 2001, Editor: Kreis Steinfurt, der Landrat, Christoph Tannert, Vice Versa Verlag, 2001.

Additional information: www.kreis-steinfurt.de